Five promoted to series regulars on 'Glee'

'Glee' has announced that five cast members have been promoted to series regular status for the upcoming season.

Melissa Benoist (Marley), Jacob Artist (Jake), Becca Tobin(Kitty) and 'The Glee Project' alums Blake Jenner and Alex Newell have all gotten the bump in stature. This follows the news that four other cast members - Heather Morris (Brittany), Mark Salling (Puck), Amber Riley (Mercedes) and Harry Shum Jr. (Mike) - had been dropped from being series regulars down to just making guest appearances. Dianna Agron (Quinn) and Jayma Mays (Emma) are in the same boat heading forward, with Mays moving on to Will Arnett's CBS comedy 'The Millers' already, while Morris' pregnancy and her character Brittany's graduation seemed to close the door on her.

For a while it seemed like Fox was going to cancel the series, so it was a bit of a surprise in April when it approved fifth and sixth seasons of the show.

While Oxygen's 'The Glee Project' seems to be a springboard onto the main show's roster, Oxygen is unsure if it wants to continue the series or not. A decision on its future is expected soon.

Glee returns for its fifth season on Thursday, Sept. 19 at 9 p.m. on Fox.

Do you have any thoughts on this news? I'm not a 'Glee' fan, so I would be hard pressed to give my opinion.